anti-trust Posts

An examination of the pros and cons of the EU’s recent action against Google. Should the EU have found Google guilty of anti-trust offences in its search business? And what can Google and other dominant players in the FAANG group learn from this experience?

No doubt there’s more than meets the eye in the current stare-down between Amazon and book publisher Hachette over e-book pricing. The entire book industry, including all the major publishers, is watching with bated breath to see which side will win because any deal is likely to become the model for e-book pricing going forward. Both sides have their point of view – for example, Amazon is still smarting from having to adopt the Apple-inspired 2012 e-book pricing deal and thus sell some titles at a loss. Now that the company is under serious pressure from Wall Street to finally start generating real profits, CEO Jeff Bezos may refuse to bend and be willing to risk the ire of publishers, authors, and even customers to get his way. Because of its dominant market share, Amazon is running a serious risk of incurring the wrath of the Justice Department for monopolistic practices, and it seems to have forfeited public sympathy to this point. This article studies the specific topic of power – how abuse of it can impact the dynamics of an entire industry, and the strategic and tactical choices facing Amazon today.

Two far-reaching and inter-locking decisions are pending in Washington: Approval of the proposed Comcast/Time Warner cable/broadband merger, and a decision on whether or not to maintain the policy of net neutrality. With the stark exception of Netflix whose CEO, Reed Hastings, who has spoken out against the merger, traditional media companies like Disney, Viacom, HBO and Univision and video streaming services like Amazon, Netflix, YouTube, and Hulu have remained disconcertingly silent, apparently intimidated by Comcast’s bullying tactics. As for net neutrality, it is looking increasingly likely that despite attempts by the FCC to soothe consumer concerns, internet broadband will be separated into fast and slow lanes based on differentiated pricing of what has hitherto been a public utility. Where will these controversial issues end up? Will businesses of all sizes as well as consumers have equal access to internet broadband? Or will cable and broadband become the sandbox of one dominant corporation?